Data drives instruction. Managing data drives you crazy. This free tool will assess students, manage data, and analyze results to make your instruction better. Easily create rubrics. Describe your indicators and include standards. Find rubrics in the library to copy and make your own. Print rubrics, save as a PDF, or download as a spreadsheet. Share your rubrics in the library for others to access. Does breaking down data make you break down? Analyze assessment results by individual students, class, item analysis, or standards. Email students and their families the results or download rubrics to print. Add comments to rubrics for qualitative analysis. Award badges (stickers) to reward students and provide positive feedback. An accompanying, free iPad app allows you to collect data on the fly and add it to your account. The demonstration video requires Flash, the remainder of the site does not.

In the Classroom

Use the data provided to analyze students to differentiate instruction. Provide students and families the opportunity to view data online. Motivate students to learn by awarding badges. Students can analyze their own data to monitor progress. Use the data for progress reports and parent/teacher conferences. Use the data provided to analyze your instruction to make sure standards are being met and instruction is tailored for students' individual needs.

Find hundreds of templates and documents -- for all sorts of needs, not just education -- ready to use at Google Docs (now known as Drive). The best part, the documents are available from any computer with Internet access. This is a device-agnostic tool, available on the web but also available for free as both an Android and iOS app. Important note: To OPEN this link and see the templates, you must have a Google Drive account and be logged in! Use it from any device or move between several devices and still access your work. App and web versions vary slightly. No need to create a new document. Simply search for the template you need and modify it to your specifications. Choose from many categories including resumes, presentations, calendars, budgets, and more. Once you find a document to use, preview to view the full document. Viewed documents will then be available under a link called "Templates I've Used." You can also "save a copy" to change it at will. This makes them easy to find in the future. Upload your own documents for use anywhere and anytime.

In the Classroom

Find specialized templates for teachers and students by clicking that category in the left sidebar. You can find templates for all sorts of "real world" tasks in the broader collection, including authentic writing tasks such as press releases, project proposals, and resumes. Upload commonly used classroom documents and share with students to retrieve at home. Search for templates for outlines, rubrics for reports, or guidelines for classroom projects. Share this site with students to use for their own projects. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.

Find or upload sound clips in wav or MP3 format -- with clear information about digital rights -- at Sound Bible. Thousands of files are available for easy download. Use the search bar to locate a specific sound or browse through sound effects or royalty free sounds available on the site. Click the arrow to hear the sound clip, then click on the name to go to the download section. Choose from wav, mp3, or zip file, and click to download. Share your own sounds using the link provided along with a short description of your sound file. The sound file information includes licensing information for the sound. If you search solely in Royalty Free sounds, you are safe to use them, but follow the attribution requirements as explained on the lower portion of the "Royalty Free sounds" page.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Sound Bible to find short sound clips for use in presentations, videos, or interactive whiteboard lessons. In primary grades, play sounds as cues for classroom management, such as bird sounds to gather "at the nest" for circle time. Use sound clips as story or journal starter ideas. Play a clip and have students create a story that incorporates that sound. Take your students on an audio tour of the rainforest as you learn about the various animals and sounds. Use this site during units about weather to share sounds from storms, wind, thunder, and more. Explore ocean sounds, animals sounds, etc. Use in world language classes to spark conversations and build vocabulary. Play background sounds during creative writing class. Challenge students to write about how the sounds make them feel. Challenge gifted or digitally-clever students to use these sounds to create an all-audio story to accompany a drawing or image. Use a tool such as Brainshark, -reviewed here.

Find ready-to-go lessons and materials for 1st and 2nd grades to meet many of the Common Core standards. Many of the materials could also be useful with students in grades 3-5. Begin by choosing from topics such as Reading, Math, Classroom Management, or Seasonal. Within each topic find a list of lessons or activities. Look under Classroom Management to find a link to Common Core "I Can" printables, reading logs, and checklists for grades K-5. Choose from different subjects for each checklist along with the option of borderless design or clip art poster. Don't let the juvenile look of this site or the abundance of advertising fool you. There are a lot of wonderful resources to be found with just a little bit of searching!This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site as a lesson resource throughout the year. This is a great site to peruse over the summer or use for back to school planning. Use this site to learn more about Common Core. Print the "I Can" checklists for use in student folders as part of your yearly assessment. Send a copy home to parents so that they see the yearly standards and goals for each subject.

Create and learn about mnemonics and acrostic poems easily with this tool. Use JogLab to create a catchy slogan to help you remember terms and ideas. You can browse the ready-made mnemonics, but there do not seem to be many. To explore the keywords of a topic and build you own mnemonic, click the topic History, (for example), then the actual concept, such as Bill of Rights. The keywords will be listed. Click "Create your own mnemonic for Bill of Rights" to generate a mnemonic from this list of keywords. Despite the many windows and scroll bars, the word finder is an easy tool to use. For each letter of the mnemonic, follow the site suggestions of words that can string together into a phrase. Use the part-of-speech sorter to narrow the suggested words to your specification of noun, verb, adjective, etc. These will reinforce parts of speech in the context of sentence making. There are links to advertising and off-site (NOT school friendly) content, so familiarize yourself with the tool before showing it to students to avoid these areas.

In the Classroom

Introduce acrostic poems with this tool by building one together on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Demonstrate and use the mnemonic tool on a projector or interactive whiteboard to create an easy way for students to remember a sequence of terms or concepts. After the class has used it together, provide a link to this tool on your class website. Have students create their own mnemonics in small groups and vote on the best as a class. Learning support teachers will want to make this a routine tool for their students to use when reviewing for tests.

Find hundreds of ideas for using the visual resources of film, animation, photographs and picture books for teaching literacy. Each "shed" has a theme: The Mystery Shed, The Video Game Shed, The Fantasy Shed, The Myths Shed, The Picture Book Shed, and at least 25 more. Each "shed" has images and videos along with suggestions for using them. The activities and materials will appeal to many age groups from primary to college age. The Literacy Shed also features a resource a week and a blog entry for the week. This site is free, but donations are accepted. The Resource Shed features lesson plans and worksheets from others to go along with the animations. Only the videos use Flash. At the time of this review, all advertising was related to educational sites and activities.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

The Literacy shed is full of ideas for writing, creating, and improving your student's critical thinking skills. There are lesson plans with explicit instructions for writing. The high quality resources found here can be used as "stand alone" lessons or can be an introduction to a unit. Look to see if there is one to support a unit you already use. Here is an idea: after viewing one of your favorite picture books via video, and completing some of the suggested activities, have students bring in their favorite picture book and create activities similar to those found on The Literacy Shed. They could also create a video either with pictures from the book or by creating their own pictures and narrating the story. Be sure students use proper citation if posting them on TeacherTube, reviewed here, or another online program. Not finding your favorite book on The Literacy Shed? See if you can find a YouTube or Vimeo video and create your own lesson from a model at The Literacy Shed.

Find downloadable worksheets correlated to Common Core curriculum. Visit the math link for practice with all operations and many topic areas (balancing equations, many forms of graphs, fractions, grids, lines, line plots, geometry, measurement, money, negative numbers, time, and SO much more)! In social studies find worksheets on geography, primary and secondary sources, and timelines. Language arts includes parts of speech and sentence types. Under each subject choose easy, medium, or hard worksheets. In Create a Review, choose your topic area and create your own worksheet. Also included are brain teasers, bingo games, and multiplication mazes.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Find worksheets for every subject to better prepare your students for Common Core standards and testing. Use the sheets to make a formative or even summative assessment for many different topics in math. Use as a review or even practice. Provide this link on your class website for students (and parents) to find extra practice. Printable answer keys come with the worksheets. Allow students to create their own quizzes. Easy to use, grade, and share. Use for gifted students needing some acceleration. Use for extra practice with students struggling with new concepts.

Find and choose from 100's of online coloring pages sorted into categories at The Color. Choose from holiday categories, colors, alphabet, occupations, continents, dinosaurs, nursery rhymes, numbers, and much more. Click on an image to begin coloring. You can color online or print the page to color on paper. Share finished images via email using the link provided. Registration isn't necessary, but if you register you may save finished projects for later viewing.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site as a resource for coloring pages in many different topics. Share a link to the site with parents for practice at home. Color pictures of the continents during geography lessons. Explore the dinosaur coloring pages during dinosaur month.

Rock out to nature with Animal Jam! Animal Jam is a virtual-world counterpart to National Geographic Kids magazine. Create a free account after validation from a parent/adult email address. Parent email is required for user validation. Learn about plants and animals while exploring virtual ecosystems. Animal Jam is great for all ages and abilities. Select an animal avatar to navigate through Jamma, a land where the animals are disappearing and the environment needs help. Name your avatar and take on its persona through the many customizable options. Uncover secrets and play games as you visit the land of Jamaa's mountains, caves, and waterways. Read electronic books, build your avatar's den, hang out with friends, and watch National Geographic multimedia clips. Earn gems through playing games and use them to purchase items for your avatar. Use the world map to show all the parts of the world that you visit. Add to your journal to record your travels through Jamaa. Tons of facts and videos are available to explore and fact sheets can be printed. Animal Jam offers many safe chat, privacy, and parental control features to make sure students are safe. Premium options are available for purchase. This review was for the FREE portion only.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Studying ecosystems or biomes? Animal Jam offers great supporting materials with an added social feature. Print fact sheets for students on plants and animals. Students can journal about their experiences. Animal Jam is great for science learning stations, enrichment, or support. Share Animal Jam on your interactive whiteboard and take a trip around the world with your class. Provide the link on your class website for students to further explore (and play) at home. Use the social features to teach digital citizenship skills in a safe environment. Students can write creative journal prompts from the point of view of their avatar as they integrate facts they learned in Animal Jam. Use the content in Animal Jam to provide a visual for your science instruction.

Find animated online tours of notable battles and strategies and the outcomes of each battle from Prelude to War through The Battle of Yorktown. Choose from dates and battles included on the list on the left side of the page to begin each animation. View instructions for each animation. Some require pushing play for each slide while others play to the end with one click of play. This site links to a larger site with animated maps of other wars, reviewed here. Note that you can register on the site to be notified as future battles are added.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Illustrate Revolutionary War battles on an interactive whiteboard or projector during a lecture or class discussion. This site might also be useful as a link students can explore from home as part of a homework assignment or enrichment activity. Have students research this site and other information about their "battle" and create a multimedia project. How about a "talking map" indicating where a battle took place with audio recording. Use a site such as Mapskip (reviewed here) to create a map of local landforms (with audio stories and pictures included)! A group of talented future animators might be challenged to envision similar animations for battles that are not already included.

Find and learn about almost 100,000 historic places in North America pinned on Google Maps. Click on place markers to view additional information on each location. Most include a link to further information at an independent site. Use the search box to find historic places by city or state. Zoom in and out on the map to view placemarks by state or location. Don't forget to view "Street View" by clicking and dragging the "orange guy" where you want to go!

In the Classroom

Share this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Take your students to "ground level" by using Street View. Create a scavenger hunt for important places and challenge students to locate them on this site. Have students research historical sites in your town or those related to events studied in Social Studies class. If you teach about states or regions of the U.S. or Canada, this is a great resource for students to eplore in small groups. Have students create maps using Animaps (reviewed here). Students can add text, images, and location stops describing historic events.

Abbreviations.com is a directory and search engine for abbreviations, acronyms, and initial-isms across the Internet. It includes hundreds of thousands of entries organized into a large variety of categories. Search for an abbreviation or acronym using the search bar and choose from abbreviation to term, term to abbreviation, or a word in the term. Browse items by choosing any letter to find items listed or choose from specific communities such as medical or business. Although this site has a lot of advertisements, the content found is worth looking past them.This site includes advertising.

Add cartoon speech bubbles to any photo in seconds using Phrase.it. NO membership required! Choose a photo from your Facebook feed, computer, or from the site's random stock photo collection. Pick one of the 5 different types of speech bubbles, drag to any part of the image, and type in text. Change fonts by clicking the text box until satisfied Change your image by applying one of the optional filters or leave it as is. When finished, click on the Save button and add your email if you want to receive a download link. You are also able to mark your photo PRIVATE. Once the image is saved and rendered, you can simply copy its url, share via email, Facebook, or Twitter, or download to your computer.

In the Classroom

The possibilities are limited only by your imagination. Teach parts of speech and grammar by having students write captions using colorful adjectives, adverbs, or specific sentence structures on a random photo. Make classroom signs and reminders. Caption the homework directions on your teacher web page. Ask your students to create captions for class photos for all sorts of reasons. Use this site for back to school fun. Post a photo of yourself with a caption on your class website introducing yourself to the class during the summer. Challenge each student to find/share a photo of themselves either the first week of school (or even prior to school). You will want parental permission before posting any student photos on your class website. Use photos or digital drawings from your classroom, such as pictures taken during any hands-on activity. Have students draw in a paint program, save the file, and then add a caption. Spice up research projects about historic figures or important scientists. Have literary characters "talk" as part of a project. In a government class, add captions to photos explaining politicians' major platform planks during election campaigns. Caption the steps for math problem solving. Even elementary grades can make captions of an animal talking about his habitat or a "community helper" talking about his/her role, though you may have to do it together as a class to upload the image. Make visual vocabulary/terminology sentences with an appropriate character using the term in context (a beaker explaining how it is different from a flask?). Students could also take pictures of themselves doing a lab and then caption the pictures to explain the concepts. Share the class captions on your class web page or wiki. Leave directions to your class (for when a substitute is there). Use at back to school night to grab parent attention to important announcements. Have students make talking photos of themselves as a visual tour of their new classroom for parents attending back to school night. World language classes can create images explaining and using new vocabulary. Use the site's random photo offerings for clever caption contests in your new language. Have gifted students create PhaseIt pictures to explain new knowledge they gain in going beyond the basics. For example, as the class studies plate tectonics, they could make a collection of volcano images "explaining" their own history or describing the Ring of Fire. Gifted students of all ages can make simple Phrase It images to share their own thought provoking questions about curriculum content, such as "Which figure of speech would Shakespeare be willing to give up?" Be sure to include these thought provokers on a class wiki or blog for others to respond! (No need to single out the "thinker" by mentioning who created it if it would cause ridicule.)

Create fake Facebook conversations and share with others using the Fake Convos web app. Log in using any Facebook account to begin. Click Create and choose any character to post a comment. Write the name and make a comment. Add a picture from images provided or using the url of any image. When finished, click "Add to the Stream." Now complete the same process with another character who answers your main character on the Facebook stream. Save finished conversations by providing a name and choose save. Share using the share button provided to email addresses, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media options. You can also simply take a screenshot (Command+shift +4 on a Mac or Prtscrn on Windows).This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

IF your students can access Facebook at school, have them create different characters talking to each other. The characters can be historical people, politicians, or characters from literature. Ask students to write dialogues for the characters. Challenge students to discuss a topic or try to solve a problem using this tool. You can also use this tool to teach netiquette or anti-bullying by having students model appropriate interactions. Use this tool to allow students to debate both sides of an argument or position. Create a Fake Convos dialogue and have students respond within the dialogue.

FindIcons.com is a search tool that helps you find free icons. Type your term in the search bar to view icons in FindIcons database. Choose from several different options to download icons in the file format desired, such as png. Convert to jpg, bmp, or several other file options. Each icon includes licensing information so you can look for icons that are Creative Commons or public domain. Create an account then make user sets of your favorite icons. Access your user sets from anywhere through the FindIcons website. Explore the TAGS button to find search ideas. Be aware: ANY word/term can be searched, some may not be appropriate for the classroom. If you plan to allow young people to use this site independently, be sure to discuss appropriate searching.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site as a resource for finding and saving icons to use on your website, or to include with class projects. Share this site with students to find icons for projects. If you make a whole-class account, you can create user sets in advance of projects to save time. In primary grades, these icons are terrific for teacher use! Use icons to create non-verbal signs for your non-readers in your classroom. Special education, world language, and ELL/ESL teachers can create non-verbal prompts for language learning. Use icons on your interactive whiteboard as drag and drop or labeling activities to build vocabulary and more.

Use this tool to find current weather for any location. The site senses your current location, or you can enter one. Find out your seven day forecast. But there is more: go back in time to explore weather for any location on any previous date. Explore what the temperature was the day you were born, the first day of school this year, or any other time. Dates go back as far as 1945. View current temperatures and forecast by adding a location to the search bar or choose the time machine to go back in time to view weather at that location for any date. View the hourly temperature along with wind speed, humidity, and visibility. Choose either Fahrenheit or Celsius displays.

In the Classroom

Use Forecast as an interesting addition to any history lesson. Choose the location and date that you are studying to find what the actual weather was at that time. Dates go back as far as 1945. Have students debate the impact of weather on historical events. What was the temperature in Dallas on the day JFK was assassinated? The possibilities are endless! Have students compare temperatures from different years during your weather unit, then create an online graph using Amblegraph (reviewed here). Have students research climate change questions using actual data from this site.

Journey back 65 million years to discover and learn all about dinosaurs and their time on earth. Choose a section to explore from links provided: teachers, parents, or kids. The kids portion contains an excellent FAQ with answers to common questions about dinosaurs. You can select several interactives and activities by age ranges. One great one to try is the Build a Dino activity: choose body parts to create your own dino then receive a progress report and test your dino to see if he can survive! The Teachers area of the site includes units of study for students in grade K-8 (there are webquests designed especially for grades 3-8), links to academic standards reinforced by visits to the dinosaur image gallery, and resources including reading lists. The webquests are also available in Spanish.

In the Classroom

Have students create their own dino using the Build a Dino activity. Challenge students to draw and describe their dinosaur with an explanation of how and why different body parts were chosen. Use this as a descriptive writing piece. Create a class book of Dinosaur Creations! Choose from the webquests offered on the site for your class. Use webquests not only to learn about dinosaurs but also to sharpen research and debate skills. Have students use a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here, to record where dinosaur fossils have been found. This site allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location (on a map) where the story takes place.

Come aboard and explore the Titanic from construction through the disaster and the aftermath. Read tales of survivors. Explore the different accommodations, food, and activities for the first, second, and third class passengers. Take a look at a route map or timeline using links on each side of the interactive title. Each section of the interactive includes the story of events as well as captioned images, videos, and video animations of events. Be sure to check out links to related activities located on the site such the Titanic by the Numbers interactive and related video clips.

In the Classroom

Take your class on an adventure as you explore this website using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use this Titanic Interactive as an extension lesson for middle and high school students studying early 20th Century History. If you use this site with upper elementary students, you will want to pair a better read with weaker readers since much of the information is in text form. Include the Titanic as one of many topics for twentieth century "decades" research projects. Use this site for any students reading a novel or nonfiction about the Titanic. Have students use Fakebook (reviewed here) to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook from the perspective of one of the cruisers onboard.

Quandary is an online simulation in ethical decision-making while building a new colony on the planet Braxos. Face decisions without right or wrong answers but that have implications on you and others in the colony. This activity was created for students ages 8-14. Login is optional to save scores or play as a guest. The game includes three different episodes with each containing different scenarios for decision-making. View information on the game, extension questions and more within the teachers and parents portions of the site. Find lesson plans, standards mapping (matched to Common Core ELA standards), and printable materials within the teachers section for classroom use. Don't miss the introduction videos explaining the site!

In the Classroom

Try this activity on your interactive whiteboard (or projector). Create a quick poll (with no membership required) using kwiqpoll (reviewed here) to view students' choices of actions to take throughout the game. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create videos and share them on a site such as TeacherTube reviewed here to explain the decision-making process for different scenarios.

Spific is search engine designed to narrow down searches by the use of filters (they call them "refinements"). Although it is powered by Google's search algoithm, it is not affiliated or endorsed by Google. Enter your search term as usual. Choose where you want results to come from among several categories. Categories include news and newspapers, Internet directories, dictionaries, videos, movies, and much more. Refine results even further by choosing specific newspapers or websites within results. A date range narrows news results.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use Spific to find online newspaper content quickly and easily or compare definitions from different sources. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram (reviewed here) to compare information from two different sites. Provide a link for students to use this site to make searching easier when working on book reports, research projects, or presentations. Demonstrate how to use the search on your interactive whiteboard (or projector) and point out how to narrow down results using links to individual sites. This site would be ideal to include in a search engine comparison for information literacy/fluency lessons.